Egypt, september – october 2020

6/10/20:

Protests continue whilst hundreds of thousands of Egyptians are threatened with homelessness as state destroys “illegal” buildings

“The government has stipulated residents must pay a down payment for reconciliation if their houses are constructed “illegally”, to prevent them from being demolished under the Reconciliation Law on Building Violations. They say it is part of a crackdown on illegal buildings that violate safety standards, whilst critics accuse them of raising funds and being part of a plan to gentrify the country. The settlement fee is between 50 Egyptian pounds ($3.18) and 2,000 Egyptian pounds ($127.16) per square metre. According to Reuters, authorities had collected roughly seven billion Egyptian pounds ($445.1 million) in fees by mid-September. Egyptians protested outside government buildings demanding compensation for their losses after thousands found themselves homeless and sleeping in tents where their houses once stood. Others challenged and blocked authorities entering their towns and villages to demolish their homes…Thousands of residential buildings have been demolished over the past several weeks. Since 20 September Egyptians have been demonstrating against the ruling regime because soaring living costs have made the country uninhabitable. Facing the threat of having your house demolished compounds an already dire situation following years of economic austerity, high prices and the effects of the global coronavirus pandemic.”

4/10/20:

Egypt, Luxur: clashes on 3rd anti-government demo in 2 weeks after “security forces” kill brother of suspect .  See also this Wikipedia entry and this Guardian report

30/9/20:

 Egypt: 164 protests over last  days against cop killings and high cost of “living” over 1000 media sites blocked in order to censor information about anti-government demos

25/9/20:

Egypt: man killed on 6th demonstration day in a row as protests flare throughout country.

“The rare protests – dubbed by demonstrators as a “Friday of rage” – took place across cities, towns and rural areas in Egypt after noon prayers, including in the capital, Cairo, and the governorates of Giza, Damietta on the Nile Delta and Luxor in southern Egypt.”

21/9/20:

Minya: armoured cop vehicle pushed into canal

“Protesters in Egypt have seized an armoured police vehicle in the Badrasheen Centre in Giza. According to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, another group of protesters in Al-Hawarta village in Minya Governorate pushed a security vehicle into a canal. The action was in response to security forces firing tear gas canisters and bullets at demonstrators. Protests in Egypt against the rule of Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi continued yesterday for the second day in a row…protests broke out in Shubra Al-Khaimah in Qalyubia governorate, Warraq in Giza, Dar Al-Salam in Fayoum Governorate, Al-Ayyat in Giza. They also reached Suez, Kafr El Dawwar on the Nile Delta, Cairo, Alexandria and Aswan, where reports circulated online that the presidential residence had been set fire to.”

20/9/20:

Egypt, Aswan: presidential building torched after cops attack demonstrators; demos in lots of different part of country as state launches attacks on informal illegally constructed buildings

“People in Kadiya in Giza Governorate, angry at the demolitions of buildings claimed by the government to have been illegally built, turned over a police truck. Protests continued on 21 and 22 September. Protest locations on 22 September included Giza, Faiyum, Minya, Luxor and Aswan. In the village of al-Kadaya in Atfih, protestors refused a police objection to the holding of a protest by overturning a police car and setting it on fire. In al-Hawarta in Minya Governorate, protestors pushed a police vehicle into a canal.”

demonstrations in several part of country against high cost of living

Google translate:

Limited demonstrations took place at night during the past few days in some areas of Cairo and the governorates to protest the high cost of living. Egyptian security sources said that ten people had been arrested for “inciting to block the highway,” east of Cairo….On the other hand, four people were arrested in possession of Molotov cocktails in Luxor Governorate, in southern Egypt, according to what security sources said….
These sources added that the arrested “were preparing to use these bottles to stir up riots” in Luxor….Limited night demonstrations took place for several days against President Sisi. The Egyptian Public Prosecutor’s Office releases 68 children who participated in demonstrations against Sisi…The security authorities managed to control the protests. This comes in light of a state of security alert in Cairo and a number of Egyptian governorates, after the Egyptian contractor residing in Spain, Muhammad Ali, called on citizens to demonstrate. During the past few days, the country witnessed limited night demonstrations in a number of villages calling on Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to leave power….The Egyptian security forces have arrested dozens of people over the past week on charges of joining a banned group and assaulting the police. The Supreme State Security Prosecution ordered the detention of more than 100 people pending investigations…According to news reports, the marches covered several areas, including the governorates of Cairo, Giza, Suez, Mahalla, Fayoum, Minya, Sohag, Luxor and Aswan. In some of them, clashes erupted between demonstrators and security forces who fired tear gas canisters in an attempt to disperse them….It also comes in light of mounting anger among a sector of Egyptians over government decisions that decided to demolish a large number of homes, which the authorities say were built without a permit on state land, and statements by President Al-Sisi threatening to use the army in demolitions if necessary. It is noted that the number of violators is in the millions, and most of them are in the countryside, which makes this issue extremely important to many Egyptians. But Sisi’s supporters spoke of exaggerated coverage of the demonstrations, saying that those behind them failed to mobilize citizens.”

 


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